CUNNINGHAM

Tube box courtesy Bob Ellingson

The Cunningham - RCA entanglement is large and sordid. Too much for a complete description here. The short version goes something like this: Cunningham was making early tubes. Some were similar to RCA's. RCA sued Cunningham for patent infringement. The settlement was that Cunningham would state "Made under license from RCA" on the box or flat out re-sell other RCA tubes under their name again giving full credit to RCA. Cunningham believed he got the short end of the judgment and was very bitter. He again began manufacturing and selling tubes outside the agreement. However, RCA felt these were still covered by the agreement. They sued again. World War II intervened and Cunningham's products were desperately needed as well as RCA's. Finally the second suit was settled and Cunningham went under. I'm not trying to give full history lessons for these companies. Merely thumbnail sketches. My primary object is showing the boxes and just a little history with them.

The box on the left is an early Cunningham example. But even it credits RCA on the side.

Believe it or not, the two views to your left are the same box. Two sides RCA, two sides Cunningham.

To the right are two slightly different colored but similar Cunningham boxes. One says "Product of RCA", the other, "Manufactured by RCA".